The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Everyone was riding horses or carriages, and the journey was quite fast. However, they encountered a rainstorm and were delayed for a day.

Despite this, by noon on the fifth day, everyone arrived at the riverside.

The river flows endlessly, and you can even vaguely see the other side of the river.

There are Daxia troops stationed along the coast.

The leader was a Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. After he handed over the nameplate and visiting card at the camp, an eighth-rank military general came out to receive him.

He ordered his men to search Zhang Ping'an and others one by one and verify their identities before letting them go.

Tu Xiaowen leaned closer and whispered, "It's quite strict. It seems the military discipline is good."

"Stop talking," Zhang Pingan said, "I'm searching you!"

"Anyway, I don't have anything valuable on me, and I don't know when the boat will be arranged for us to go to Yangzhou," Tu Xiaowen muttered, stroking his beard.

In the end, all the silver and banknotes that Zhang Ping'an and others had on them were searched out, even those in their underwear were not spared.

Zhang Pingan, along with the others, contributed some, and said with a smile, "Invite all the soldiers to have tea."

I thought it was a tacit agreement, but in the end no one accepted it, and the banknotes and silver were returned intact.

The military camp also provided a lunch, which consisted of coarse grain steamed buns and some kind of cooked vegetable with some oil in it.

To be honest, it was far worse than what everyone else had eaten on the road.

Zhang Ping'an and Tu Xiaowen were fine, they just ate a few steamed buns with water, but the others just left their food there with a look of disgust on their faces.

My mood was obviously at its lowest point.

The leading official also had a bad look on his face. He knew that life on the front line was tough and he was prepared to endure hardships, but he didn't expect it to be so tough.

After a while, the eighth-rank general who I met at the beginning came in with his soldiers to collect the dishes.

Seeing that most people hadn't touched their chopsticks, he wasn't surprised. He just said something in a hoarse voice: "I advise everyone to eat more. This is considered a good meal in the military camp. There are even fat and minced meat in the dishes. Once you cross the river and reach the north, you won't be able to eat it even if you want to!"

There was a hint of gloating in his eyes.

Someone couldn't help but turn his head and said to the official, "Master Huo, what's going on? Even if the army is short of food, they wouldn't withhold our generals' food, right?!"

"Not really. I guess this is just a warning to us," Lord Huo said with a forced smile to comfort him.

Zhang Ping'an and Tu Xiaowen looked at each other without saying anything.

No matter what everyone thought, less than an hour after the meal, their boat to Yangzhou was ready.

The general urged everyone to get on board, like herding ducks. "Hurry up, the wind will pick up soon and it will be difficult to sail!"

Tu Xiaowen touched the back of his neck, feeling a chill, and said to Zhang Pingan, "Why do I feel like I'm on a pirate ship?"

Zhang Pingan laughed: "Don't talk about you, I have it too. Now that things have come to this, what else can I do? Go for it! "

More than 200 people boarded the military ship to the north. The ship was very large and moved very fast. Zhang Pingan didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that this ship was much faster and more stable than when he crossed the river to Yuezhou, and he was less seasick.

With the help of the wind, everyone arrived in less than an hour.

There is also a military camp guarding the other side of the river.

Currently, Yangzhou and surrounding areas such as An County are all under the influence of Daxia. Although it is only the size of a palm compared to the entire north, its significance is different.

Finally, we recovered a piece of land.

The searches in the Yangzhou military camp were stricter than those in the south. Not only were the prisoners body searches required, but they were also interrogated separately.

They did not relax their vigilance at all just because they were military generals sent by the imperial court.

By the time the interrogation was over, it was completely dark and the dinner time in the military camp had passed.

The military officer who was in charge of greeting them brought over a bowl of coarse grain steamed bread, with only a plate of pickles as a side dish.

"It's past dinner time now, this is all we have, just make do with it!" After saying that, he put the basin on the table with a "bang".

Looking at this bowl of gray steamed bread and the pickled vegetables that look unrecognizable.

Everyone looked at Mr. Huo, the Deputy Minister. The food here was worse than that in the South Bank military camp!

Lord Huo's face was not looking good either. He looked up and asked, "Where is Lord Zhou? When can I see him?"

"Lord Zhou has taken his troops out, and I don't know when he will come back," the general replied in a serious tone.

"What about Deputy General Huo? He's always here, right?"

"Lord Huo is not here either. He's gone to quell the rebellion with his troops!"

"Then tell me who is here and who can make the decision?" Mr. Huo couldn't help but slammed the table and said angrily.

The general felt that he was also innocent, so why was he so angry? He replied honestly: "Only General Luo is here, but Lord Luo is in a meeting, and he has ordered that no one is allowed to disturb him!"

"I have come here from thousands of miles away with these pillars of the court, but there is no one to receive us? This is simply outrageous. When I return, I will definitely report you to the emperor," said Huo Yuanwailang angrily.

"Master Huo, why don't you rest for a while? I'll be sure to report back as soon as Master Luo is done discussing this," the general said. "If you have no other instructions, I'll be leaving now. I have to lead a patrol of the camp soon!"

Mr. Huo felt a headache and waved his hand to let the people go.

The others were immediately furious, complaining, "What the hell is going on? Lord Huo, you have to make the decision for us. We risked our lives to come here to help the court, not to eat steamed buns as prison food!"

Tu Xiaowen didn't say anything. He picked up the steamed bread and started eating. He put it in his arms while eating and nudged Zhang Pingan with his elbow, signaling him to eat faster.

Zhang Pingan was so annoyed by the noise that he thought it would take some time for the situation to resolve.

He simply picked up the steamed bread and ate it first. He knew that life in the northern military camp would not be easy.

The steamed bread was so thick that it made his throat hurt when he took a bite. Even when he was fleeing famine, Zhang Ping'an rarely ate such thick steamed bread.

It really makes me recall the good old days!

After eating a few more bites, he choked and rolled his eyes. Tu Xiaowen thoughtfully handed him a glass of water.

Zhang Ping'an felt better after drinking some water and patting his chest, secretly blaming himself for being too delicate.

In the end, it turned out just as Zhang Ping'an had expected. There was no result until he and Tu Xiaowen finished eating the steamed buns.

Lord Huo had no good solution, this was not his territory.

As the saying goes, whoever owns the territory has the final say!

You can only bear it for now.

Except for Zhang Ping'an and Tu Xiaowen, no one else touched the pot of steamed bread. They all went back to their own tents to eat.

Tu Xiaowen was delighted when he saw this. He went back to the tent, got the bag, and split it in half with Zhang Pingan.

He pretended and laughed, "They've had too much of a good life. They've never suffered hardship or hunger. Now they've been exiled to Yangzhou, and they still can't face reality!"

"We are the same!" Zhang Pingan also laughed.